Geographical stories { 16 galleries }

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They call it "mythical" this argentinian road that cover Argentina from top to bottom. It was founded in 1935 and seems to be an old lady that want to keep young. Argentina with its long distances, the big country of many conutries is here, along this road that striks the Andes: The Ruta Nacional Cuarenta wich someone comare to the U.S.A route 66.

The Q'ueswachaka bridge, in a far away location of the department of Cuzco, is the only bridge left along the old Inca road system to be entirely made of natural fiber and, despite having been outclassed by a nearby iron bridge, it stiil looks good on the Apurimac river canyon.
All four nearby "comunidades campesinas" are in charge of rebuilding it once every year. These "comunidades campesinas" still hold their ancestral culture that originates straight from the Incan world and, through three days of holiday, their members all work together, starting from a thin rope to thick cordages which are pulled together so that both sides of the Apurimac river are connected. This is a work of ancient art and it’s becoming a heritage for all mankind.

To the north of the imperial city of Cusco, a World Heritage Site and top Peruvian tourism, there is a long valley that serves as antechamber to Macchu Picchu, the most famous archaeological site in South America and among the most famous in the world. The valley is called sacred and is rich in archaeological sites and ancient villages dating back to pre-Columbian and colonial. It 'a place full of positive energy, everyone says, where a rural culture with a strong cultural identity coexists with holistic and creative projects at various levels, pursued by people who have chosen to live here in a non-consumerist and natural way. A balance between modern and ancestral, between spirituality and materiality thanks, it would seem, to the good energy of the valley

The ancient Inca empire was extended along a huge band of territory west of South America that the current southern Colombia reaches a height of Santiago de Chile. This territory in which they lived many different peoples was well managed by the capital Cusco thanks to a highly branched system of roads: the "suyos" so they were called the four main arterial roads of the Empire, set off from the main square of Cusco to reach the furthest reaches , other roads were built across to connect to each other and then to the coast, mountains , mountains the forest.
After five centuries, many of these roads still exist, if some parts are missing, in fact, some are still used by the people of the mountains, others are modeled on the path of the existing roads. For several years in Peru, by the Ministry of Culture is an ongoing study to identify and exploit paths, eight of which were made official in the application to Unesco Heritage.
Along the suyos there are still many archaeological and above all there is an Andean world alive and well, a great people from a strong cultural identity, deeply rooted in the ancient past, but with all the contradictions of nowadays, looking to the future.

The leave of coca plant is a base of the Andean culture. People from the 'altiplano' has always been using it for its nutritional, medical and magical characteristics. Cocaine is its chemical and artificial by-product, that has converted the holy leave in "the bad grass", in the demonized leave, illegal in almost the whole world and cause of fights in Bolivia, one of its major producer.
In this country many people lives on the harvest of this plant. In fact, a big movement led by the president Evo Morales, is working to industrialize the transformation of the plant in food, cosmetics and medicines, and he is fighting for the international decriminalization of this leave full of virtues.

In the immense Peruvian Amazon basin, where the Andes give way to the woods and heat, there is a special place, where a reality made of cultural wealth, diverse and abundant agricultural production, respect for nature and widespread social approval is the result of an ancient Teutonic colonization. A large group of impoverished Austrian and German farmers arrived here in the mid-nineteenth century, cultivated a valley and founded a colony. Since then towns have mushroomed, other people came from other areas of the country, creating a de facto multiculturalism, however Teutonic names and faces have not been lost, and cultural identity persists through an architecture inspired by that of Central Europe and through traditional Alpine clothing and dances.Those ancient emigrants recreated a farming civilization similar to where they came from, which their descendants have modernized without changing its original identity.

A dynamic capital, with a speed higher than other Latin American capitals. A city where the languor of the continent is mixed but in reality is just a boundary of the dynamism typical of the new world.

Sao Paulo is many things, is the largest city of Brazil, is not the most beautiful , is the multi-ethnic city with the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. And is 'the city of skyscrapers where the public parks are green islands far from the streets chaos. And is the cultural capital of the country.

After years of neglect and danger due to drug trafficking Bogota hath been redone changing the look from the inside. The current Bogota is a dynamic and open to new, very young and a bit 'undeground with important artistic trends from fashion to graffiti, full of civic initiatives worthy of a European metropolis Bogota is a city that is put into question and that does not leave anyone behind programs such as the insertion of the homeless in the modern process waste site.

Lima, the horrible gray city grew too fast. The city where the tourists go away quickly toward the mountainous part of the country. Lima is one of the most dynamic capitals in South America and is the heart of the booming economy of Peru. She grew up too fast and with still many infrastructure problems is rapidly changed during the last decade, thanks to the economic boom to national pride and the desire to have fun.

For all the progressives of the world, Commander "Che" Ernesto Guevara
de la Serna, was a decisive character, who in life participated in
numerous historical events and wrote about them extensively. Since his
death, his story has been told through song and various written
publications—never to be forgotten. A great contribution to the
universality of his persona was a now-famous photo taken by Alberto
Korda in 1960. Years later, this would become a symbol for the youth
of the world. "Your example illuminates a new dawn", is written on his
monument in La Higuera, a few meters from where he died. This is
perhaps the most appropriate phrase to explain today’s figure of Che,
even in Bolivia. After more than forty years since the autumn of 1967,
where in southeastern Bolivia and across the country after decades of
obscurantism, figurative and ideological content have made a slow but
impressive return to the public stage.
The report includes locations of current-day guerrillas, investigates
the changes that have occurred since and what has been left. Fans and
witnesses alike continue to investigate how Che Guevara and his
"heroic guerrilla" persona have impacted the culture and expectations
of the people in those places.

Followers of a peruvian christian prohet called Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal that them resurrection; a man named Ezequiel Ataucusi Gamonal. They are in love with he who gave a name to their faith in 1968: the Evangelical Mission Association of the Israelitas of the New Universal Covenant. They're living following step by step the Bible,mixing poor life as farmer with religious practices and fisrt christians style dress. They are everywhere in Peru but the main colonies are in the north east of Loreto region; Nuevo Pevas is one of this.

Some followers of a Dutch Anabaptist prophet, back at the time of the breakings between European catholics, are non violents and deeply faithful, always in search of a coherent life between doctrine and everyday life. The mennonites, in name of Menno the Prophet, realized for five centuries various migrations, by creating colonies in the two Americas, many timeskeeping a traditionalist life style, almost denying a whole world, in general keeping an archaic german language. In Latin America the strongest experience is the one of Filadelfia, created at the beginning of the XX century in the North- East of Paraguay, in an inhospitable area named Chaco. Now Filadelfia is a city with a quiet rich economy based on the earnings and the
transformations of the zootechnical products, the confidence, the cooperativism and the Mennonite life style created a pleasant place, with something of Central Europe, in the middle of a shrubs desert. Here as well, the Mennonite doctrine had to come to terms with the modern world; of the various colonies of the area, some have a very traditionalist life structuring; others have adapted the religious principles to the new millenium by creating a union between avant-garde technology and life in compliance with the ethnic and the religious tradition.

Among the peruvian islands of Lake Titicaca Amantani is the largest. It 'a place imbued with a magic of its own, as it is immersed in the silence of the lake and strong colors of the Andes.
Dominated by the Incan ruins on its heights, the island live off the land and plenty of sheep's wool, the women wear the traditional costume as everyday dress, electric light and motor vehicles are totally missing. Everyone is using the Aymara, language pre-Columbian used instead of Spanish during both official and private.
A wedding to Amantani is a public event which involves all the inhabitants of the island. A wedding like that of Felix and Guendy is celebrated when the house is ready , even if the children have already been born. In Aymara wedding, civil ceremony, not a Catholic, mingle Andean symbols and universal symbols, godparents have a fundamental role in supporting stronger than that of the parents, the gifts that all the inhabitants carry the bride and groom, are nothing more than " choclo y papas ", corn and potatoes, to cook; atavistic sign of the basic necessity of preserving food for the difficult moments . The banquet consists of a single dish, the usual everyday but more abundant. It 's a vibrant and colorful celebration, which lasts several hours, eating, drinking and dancing, a party whose light (the energy) will eventually come symbolically to the bridal chamber.

Belterra is a municipal seat and rubber plantation site some 40 km south of the city of Pará.
Belterra was founded as a rubber plantation, after the economic failure of Fordlândia, which had been founded in 1934 by Henry Ford. The intention of the US-Department of Commerce in the 1920s was to produce rubber in Brazil and to import it to USA. The advantage of the Belterra plantation over the plantation of Fordlândia 100 km to the south is the flat topography, which enables the use of machinery. In its peak time in the late 1930s some 50 km² were cultivated with Hevea Brasiliensis (rubber tree).In Belterra, new breeding methods with local varieties were applied, which prevented the leaf disease, a result of the monoculture in Fordlândia. This was very labour-intensive and therefore expensive. Together with the worldwide decline on demand on natural rubber, the plantation was not cost-effective anymore. Ford sold it to the Brazilian government, which is still running the plantation.
Nowadays the planation don't work anymore and Belterra is a quiet place that seems to live of his pasts

A journey to shipibo world, from their visionary art becomed part of Pucallpa's public image, trespassing San-Francisco community near Yarinacocha, land of shamanism and artisanship, until to reach Caco Macaya, a village so far away along the "alto Ucayalli" river. Where the time run slowly between artisanship, work at the farm end at home, shamanism, school and free time.